//------------------------------// // 13 - Collision // Story: Reflections // by RQK //------------------------------// “Okay,” Twilight Sparkle said as she sat straight on her throne, “give me a quick quiz, just so I’m sure.” Starlight Glimmer, who sat in the throne opposite her, shuffled some flash cards and then held one up. “Okay… Does Plaid Stripes have a job at Rarity For You?” Twilight shook her head. “No. She did in my home timeline, but here, she not only doesn’t have the job, she didn’t even want the job in the first place.” Starlight flipped to another flashcard. “Correct. Who attended the Pie slash Apple family Hearth’s Warming?” “Everypony who was there in my timeline.” “And how did it turn out?” “Like it did in my timeline.” Another flashcard. “And who was it that you fought off at the Temple of Chicomoztoc?” “I fought off Cabelleron. And…” Twilight tapped her chin. “Oh, yes, I disabled a cipactli.” Starlight nodded and set the stack of flashcards down. “Right again. I think you’re getting the hang of this, Twilight.” Twilight giggled. “I would hope so. Thanks for spending these past few days coaching me, Starlight. It’s been really helpful.” Starlight smiled. “Sure thing. I’m happy to do it, you know.” Twilight leaned against the Cutie Map with her forelegs. “It’s still a bit weird having to relearn my history. Thankfully, it’s not too much…” Starlight nodded and used her magic to shift the out-of-place flashcards so that the stack was nice and uniform. “By the way…” “Hmm?” “I know that you’ve told us,” Starlight said, “I just wanna get a sense of when you plan on telling everypony else what you’ve told us.” Twilight sighed and slumped in her seat. “I’m working myself up for it. I don’t know just yet.” “Just do it when you’re ready, huh?” Starlight said. Twilight nodded. “Of course. I just hope they understand.” “I’m sure they will.” A loud bang erupted from the space above the Map which prompted the both of them to cry out. Two mares stood on the Map’s surface. The one with red and yellow curls blinked and grasped at her head. The other whirled to face Twilight. Twilight shot up. “Crystal Faire! Sunset Shimmer!” Starlight stood up in her seat as well. Crystal Faire wore a deep frown. “Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, there’s been a development.” “Development?” Starlight asked. “Yes,” Crystal replied as she adjusted her cloak’s collar. “Something strange just happened to some other timeline. You’re going to want to see this, Twilight.” “What exactly happened?” Twilight asked Crystal rolled her hoof, motioning Twilight to step up. “I’m not all that sure, but that’s what I’m traveling there for.” Twilight raised her eyebrow and turned her eyes to Sunset. “Do you know anything about this?” Sunset blinked, met Twilight’s gaze, and then shook her head. “I don’t know. She just came to me and said that this was urgent.” “I watched it happen while I was in another timeline. I’m really not sure what to make of it yet… but…” Crystal said, “the best that I can fathom is that two timelines collided with each other.” The room fell silent for a few moments. Even Sunset, who stood right beside Crystal, looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Twilight sucked in a breath. “H-how does that even work?” “I’m about to go there to see for myself,” Crystal replied. Twilight needed nothing more. She walked onto the Map with them. “Then show me.” “Absolutely,” Crystal replied. She turned around and beckoned Starlight up. “You too, since you’re involved now.” Starlight shuddered but nonetheless joined them on top of the Map. “Sure. Whatever. I’m kinda interested to see what this is about, I guess.” Twilight nodded. “Let’s go.” Crystal Faire shifted, and reality folded inward. The senses folded into a single point and then burst back out. The four of them landed in soft dirt right after that. The first thing that Twilight noticed was her needing to gasp for air. The air wasn’t as thick as it should have been. As a matter of fact, the air felt burned. One glance up revealed that the clear blues and pleasurable chills that she had expected had been replaced by burning reds and biting hots. It almost felt like standing in an oven. The ground was torn up with not a shred of green remaining. Several houses lay in shambles around them. Exposed beams had been warped into curls and shapes that looked like two separate beams had fused together. The four of them cried out when the ground nearby exploded and a tower of red-hot earth spewed out. Crystal threw up a barrier around them which the lava splashed off of and then she swore out loud. “Where are we!?” Starlight cried. “Ponyville,” Crystal growled. The other three gave several pointed and dismayed cries. Images of her world being torn apart came rushing back and Twilight’s legs gave way as she gave a sharp and cracked, “Noooooo!” “It looks like it got hit pretty hard,” Crystal said. She looked at the soil beneath them and then lit her horn. A teddy bear emerged from the dirt. She grabbed it with her hoof and held it up for them to see. “This is from the other timeline.” Another piece of ground exploded and another column of lava rose up. It was a further distance away, but Crystal nonetheless kept her barrier up. “The hay even happened!?” Sunset exclaimed. “This is just horrible…” Starlight whimpered. “This is what happens when matter oscillates between timelines,” Crystal said, lobbing the teddy bear up and down. “Just look at that house over there; you’ve got two houses trying to occupy the same space.” The structure in question looked just like many others; the walls, decisively made of wood, sported ruffles in some places and splinters in others. “Oh stars… Oh stars...” Twilight wheezed. Starlight bent down. “Hey, Twilight, are you okay?” Twilight shook her head. “No…” she gasped, “I’m not okay! Crystal, how long ago did this happen?” Crystal frowned. “A few minutes.” “For you?” Twilight minced on her next words. “Or for them!?” Crystal shuddered. “Both.” “Oh geez…” Sunset seethed. After a long moment, Crystal rubbed her face with her hooves and sighed. “And, well… there’s more.” “More?” they all asked in unison. Crystal whirled to face them. “I found a survivor. There’s one in the other timeline.” Twilight shot back up, tears now streaming down her face. “Then take us to them, please! I don’t want to spend another moment here!” “We will go. But… I can’t promise that any of you will like what we will find.” A loud boom from nearby prompted them to jump. They all looked up as chunks of burning rock streaked from the sky and impacted nearby. One streaked into a burning house which caused it to explode into a million pieces. The ground rumbled with every strike. “Whatever,” Starlight said, placing her hoof on Crystal, “just get us out of here!” Crystal shifted. All senses folded together, and for a few moments, the four mares did not exist. Reality then folded back out and they landed. Twilight’s heart still beat at a rapid pace and she had to find air fast, but she forced herself to take longer breaths. As far as her frenzied mind could tell, there was no bedlam here to bombard her senses. Eventually, everything slowed down enough for her to afford a glance around. The skies here were much clearer even though they carried a sickly yellow glow. The material below their hooves felt organic and alive with the way it pulsated. The walls were full of holes, but where some were neat and orderly holes, others had frills and loose bits hanging and were irregular in shape. The uneven ground was covered in a strange green goo at irregular intervals. Starlight scooped some up, slathered it in her hooves, and then growled. “Changeling goop! This is the hive in the Badlands!” The four heard a groan behind them and they whirled around to find a large, black, pony-like creature lying on the ground. She had insect-like wings and several holes in her legs. Her mane looked like long strands of seaweed with their dark cerulean color. And she tilted her head toward them, stared with green, reptile-like eyes, and bared her fangs. “You!” she shrieked. “Chrysalis!” Twilight exclaimed as she prepared to charge. Queen Chrysalis scrambled to her hooves and broke into a gallop. Her gallop quickly turned into more of a stumble, but her features remained curled into a hateful snarl. A brilliant green magical aura coursed into her horn. Twilight dragged her hoof through the dirt and then charged in kind. She lit her horn in preparation for throwing a spell of her own. She only made it a few meters before she felt something grab her by the tail, at which she lost her footing and fell. Crystal teleported between the two. “Sit down!” she barked at Twilight. She wrapped some magic around Chrysalis and downed her too. “You sit down! All of you!” Chrysalis bared her teeth. She tried to stand but couldn’t against Crystal’s magic. Instead, she reeled back and took a shot right at Crystal’s head. Crystal tilted her head just enough for the shot to go right past her. She then threw Chrysalis a hardened glare. “Get down!” Starlight exclaimed as she lit her own horn. Crystal shifted in Starlight’s direction. The floor beneath Starlight’s hooves caved just enough to throw off her aim; the resulting blast traveled well past Chrysalis and hit a half-standing wall far away. “You!” Chrysalis yelled. “I’ll destroy you!” “That’s enough!” Crystal thundered. “No! I swear, if it’s the last thing I do, Twilight Sparkle… Starlight Glimmer…” Chrysalis clenched her teeth and then doubled over. She gagged, reeled, and then hurled. She expelled several mushy bits but some parts were round and hard. Most bits were covered in a sickly green fluid. Everypony save Crystal reeled in response. Chrysalis keeled onto her side, moaning in pain. Sunset swallowed and craned her neck to see better. “What’s… that sticking out of her thigh?” What looked like a large stone sat embedded in Chrysalis’ right thigh. The skin just around it joined seamlessly with it, almost as if the stone had always been there. “That stone there is from the other timeline,” Crystal said. Twilight shuddered. “That’s… not supposed to be there.” “I see what I can, but I’m going to need some more information from her,” Crystal said. Sunset pointed. “She’s hurt. I don’t think there’s any way she could even talk to us right now.” “I know. I must get her to a hospital.” * * * Crystal watched as the various objects that owned the air streaked about. The daytime sky revealed the greens far below. She could see various mile-high towers that stretched up from the ground; among them was the one where she had dined with Twilight a few weeks prior. Twilight and Starlight sat on cushions to her left, whispering between each other, while Sunset sat to her right, filling out a Super Sudoku booklet. The hallway stretched into the distance on either side; Crystal knew that it bridged two skyscrapers. Crystal stood up. A couple of seconds later, the door across from them opened and a stallion wearing a white coat and a stethoscope around his neck stepped out. “What is the full damage?” Crystal asked. The other three stood up. “Well,” the doctor said, “she’s stable, at least. There were multiple pieces of debris within her system. Autotables got the smaller loose bits out, and we’ve thankfully stopped the internal bleeding.” “That’s good,” Sunset said. “That said,” the doctor said as he pulled out a clipboard, “there are still some other matters. There are some air pockets within her, as well as several pieces of debris which are actually… fused with her body. We are especially interested in that large rock that’s fused into her right thigh, as it should have destroyed the tendons.” “Can you dig that stuff out?” Crystal asked. The corners of his mouth turned down. “We can. But we’re not too familiar with her physiology. We’ll have to keep her a week or two and do some reconstructive surgeries…” He flipped a few pages into his clipboard. “She might have to learn to walk again.” Crystal rolled her eyes. “Well, that can’t be helped, I guess. But will she fully recover?” “I’m optimistic. My only question is how that happened at all. I’ve never seen wounds like that.” Crystal shared nervous chuckles with the others and said, “I’m not at liberty to say. Besides… I don’t think you would believe me anyway.” He opened his mouth to respond when a black object on the side of his coat started to beep. He reached over, unhooked it from its spot, and looked at it. “It would appear that I’m being paged. Why don’t you tell me how it happened later?” Not a chance. Crystal nodded. “Go take care of your other patients.” He replaced the object and nodded. He turned to leave but stopped. “Before I do, how’s the eye doing?” Crystal reached up and stroked her scar. “It works great; I can see perfectly.” “Are you sure you don’t want us to fix up that scar too?” he asked. “It’s fine. Thank you.” With that, the doctor turned and trotted down the hall. He eventually disappeared into a hallway on the side. From here, Crystal thought, there are some possible futures where she doesn’t make it, though. Hmmm, she ran away in a few others. It’s best to avoid traveling to those. Let’s see... Ah, there’s one where she’s doing some physical therapy after everything is done. Oh, the doctors there are discussing discharge. “It looks like it’ll be a while before she’s on her hooves again,” Starlight said. “Thankfully,” Crystal replied, “we don’t have to wait. Gather around.” They did so. Energy coursed through Crystal and then every bit of her senses came online. In fact, she could feel herself extending around the others in that brief moment before everything folded into a single point. Everything folded out again and the four of them found themselves standing in fresh air. The skies above hosted several gray clouds. A steady rain splashed against and slid down a hexagonal-patterned barrier that stretched over them. They stood in a concrete yard which hosted some ramps, wooden staircases, some racks with various weights on them, and a few exercise machines. A few ponies clad in green gowns and their respective nurses busied themselves on some yoga pads off near one end. Crystal whirled to find a unicorn stallion, standing with a clipboard, overlooking some numbers on the treadmill. Chrysalis herself actually occupied the treadmill, vacantly placing one hoof in front of the other. The rock in her thigh was now gone and the tissue, aside from some stretch marks, looked as if it had never been violated. Chrysalis looked in their direction and went white as a sheet. “You!” she exclaimed. She recoiled into the railing and then stumbled and fell. The treadmill, still running, promptly deposited her onto the floor. The stallion caretaker dropped his clipboard. “Hey! Easy now. Are you okay?” Chrysalis pushed him away with a growl and then climbed to her hooves. “What are you doing here?” “We are here to see you, of course,” Crystal replied. “You are recovering quite nicely.” Chrysalis thundered up to Crystal and stuck her snout in the latter’s face. “What are you getting at? Why would you ever save my life? What is this place that you brought me to? You act like you know what happened to me.” “I know quite a bit about what happened to you and your reality, yes,” Crystal replied. Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. A green flame enveloped her body and she grew to twice her size. The gown threads ripped into several pieces as the changeling transformed into a manticore. She promptly roared in Crystal’s face. Crystal blinked some offending saliva out of her eyes. “You will tell me this instant!” Chrysalis the manticore thundered. Crystal’s expression remained hardened but she backed away nonetheless. “I plan to tell you everything,” she said as she wiped her face. “But, when I do, I’ll need your recounting of events in return.” Chrysalis the manticore made several guttural purrs for a few seconds and she raised her claws and then lowered them again. “Very well. I am listening.” “First…” Crystal turned to the stallion who was now cowering on the other side of the treadmill. “How long until you discharge her?” The stallion reached up and grabbed the treadmill railing, and with both forelegs wrapped around it, he stood up. “W-well… there’re just some minor housekeeping things to take care of. It’s strictly procedure. I-I don’t think it would take more than a few minutes.” “Great.” She turned to Chrysalis and motioned toward a spot behind her. “Finish up with him and then meet us over there.” * * * Crystal carefully studied the changeling’s reactions. Chrysalis’ scowl had deepened with every word out of her mouth. And now she was done. “I don’t know if I buy any of that,” Chrysalis grumbled as she shifted on her cushion. “Oh, you must all think me a fool to believe such nonsense.” Starlight, who sat right beside Twilight, rolled her eyes. “Well, you have done some foolish—” Crystal held Starlight’s mouth shut with magic. “You are not going to finish that sentence.” “But she has—” Twilight tried to say, only for magic to clamp down on her mouth as well. “Timelines? Multiverse?” Chrysalis chuckled. “I wouldn’t believe that in a thousand years.” Sunset, who sat at the top of the training stairs, frowned. “Well, then, where are we right now? I mean, it’s not any Equestria I’ve ever seen.” Chrysalis glanced up. Rain slid down the barrier and met the edge of the roof just behind the training stairs. A few flying carriages, traveling down lanes signified by floating beacons in the skies above, flew at record speeds. One of the nurses, attending to patients on the other side of the yard, looked robotic. Chrysalis finally frowned and said, “I don’t know. This place is revolting and… strange. You’re the one that brought me here, so you would know,” she said to Crystal. “That I did,” Crystal replied. “And who are you supposed to be, exactly? You’re the only pony here who I don’t want to rip apart.” “My name is Crystal Faire,” she said with a smirk, “but your reality knew me as Winter Amore. You may call me that if you wish.” Chrysalis clenched her teeth. “You… you’re the daughter of that filthy Cadance and that no good husband of hers. Of bucking course.” Crystal stood up and paced about the edge of the group. “Nonetheless, that’s what we’re going to tell you. Whether or not you believe it is up to you. For now, though… why don’t you start at the beginning; tell us what you were doing and what you saw.” Chrysalis followed Crystal with her eyes for a moment and then snorted. “Fine, I’ll tell. It’s not as if I have anything better to do. “I was in Dodge Junction looking to find a meal for myself. I was in disguise, of course.” Chrysalis placed a hoof against her chest and smirked. “Naturally, I had everypony fooled.” “Of course,” Crystal replied, deadpan. “It all started happening so suddenly,” Chrysalis continued as her smile faded. “The wind started to blow in random directions. Parts of the ground sank down or swelled up. Pieces of wood, parts of beams, or entire beams appeared out of nowhere. The entire town is wooden buildings, you know. I saw entire ponies appear out of thin air. I think I even saw three-fourths of a pony appear out of thin air.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Three-fourths? I…” “From what I can see… not all material makes it.” Crystal’s expression darkened. “Some parts can get left behind.” Starlight and Sunset went pale. “I couldn’t stop to admire it,” Chrysalis continued, “because some of the buildings exploded.” “From matter trying to occupy the same spot,” Crystal interjected. “…I suppose,” Chrysalis said. “The ground shook, I saw several more objects appear. I felt some things appear inside myself.” She rubbed her abdominal area and shuddered. “It felt… violating. “Just as fast as everything started to appear, I saw wooden carts, parts of wooden carts, bits of earth, ponies… they all disappeared. I think the entire area dropped a good couple of meters. Everypony was panicking and running about. I wanted to stop to enjoy it, but I was… in shock, I suppose. “And then many of those things reappeared again. All fragmented. I felt a sharp pain in my side and I blew my cover. That rock, whatever it was, was right in my thigh.” She bared her teeth and hissed, “That probably could have killed me!” Crystal returned her focus to the timeline, which showed her the same carnage in places like Canterlot and Ponyville and many other places. She compared it with the one that had run into it and tracked movements as objects, both living and non, were torn apart. Crystal hung her head. “It probably could have. You were lucky; most beings the world over sustained fatal injuries in those first few seconds alone.” Chrysalis gasped. “That… that wasn’t just there?” Crystal’s face darkened. “No. What you experienced happened everywhere.” Twilight screamed. Sunset shot up in her seat. “Everywhere!? Even… Even Canterlot Hi—” “Everywhere,” Crystal repeated. Many moments of silence passed by. Bits of green appeared on everyone’s faces. “Oh, by the stars…” Twilight wheezed as she started to hyperventilate. Yes, Crystal thought. It affected everything within the set of realities. But…? Her mind’s eye compared the two timelines again. The first one, the initial one which had been moving before, now stood still. The second, Chrysalis’ home timeline, was now moving instead. That had been so ever since they had collided. Chrysalis swallowed. “W-well… I got out of dodge at that point. I flew away. I thought that I would be safer up there.” She paused. “And I was.” Crystal watched as that moving timeline neared another. She wasn’t sure why she knew that as her mind’s eye saw a still picture. But she knew they were close. And, as she had just seen it happen, she knew what was about to happen. “But I still felt it right in here. I could feel bits of myself twisting,” Chrysalis continued. She withdrew into herself and croaked, “I suppose that it was some parts inside me disappearing altogether. I was bleeding on the inside. And while all that was going on, I could see the ground tearing itself apart and I could see clouds going wherever. I think I even saw a tornado.” The timelines, just as Crystal expected, hit. Every bit of momentum that Chrysalis’ timeline had carried into the third one. She could see the spots where matter sloshed between the two. She could see that which was torn and shredded. Crystal gasped. Her mental eyes drew down toward some crystallized sections near the bottom. I know this timeline. I was there to help Nyx out with Nightmare Moon, she thought. “I thought I was just seeing things, and that I was delirious from all the pain. But then I arrived at the hive and I saw it in that decimated state that you saw it in. It looked like it was in the middle of exploding. I landed amongst many late changelings. I knew all of them. Filthy traitors, all of them,” Chrysalis spat. “And then you collapsed where we found you not long after?” Twilight asked. “Right you are,” Chrysalis replied. She turned to Crystal and said, at length, “That’s everything. Any questions?” Crystal didn’t even respond. She continued pacing while mentally watching the timelines as the latest hit recoiled from the collision. It was all over now. Everything below and including the point of contact in both of them had turned semi-crystallized. It was all set in stone. “Hey,” Sunset said. “Come in, Crystal Faire.” Crystal blinked and looked over at them. She sucked in a breath. “S-sorry. I’m… I have no questions presently.” Chrysalis snorted and stood up. Crystal sighed and looked at Chrysalis’ timeline more closely. Sooo… some timeline hit you, and then you went on to hit another timeline. That’s… not great. Wait… She saw something out of the corner of her mind’s eye and she focused on it. It looked like a dot amidst everything else, but she could see some chunks flying off the timeline. It looked like a bit of timeline itself. What…? she thought. She watched the chunk fly away and she judged the path it took and traced it back. The path led her to that third timeline which had just recently been hit, and there she spotted a spot where she could see nothing. Her blood ran cold. Twilight also stood up. “Crystal…?” A hole? But… it’s just like… Crystal stole a glance at Twilight for a moment. She then ambled over to the training stairs and steadied herself against the top platform. But… holes…? Her mind’s eye whirled back toward the first timeline which had first collided with Chrysalis’. She saw a dozen slowly growing holes, off which she could spot almost imperceptible specks flying off in all directions. Starlight stood up as well. “Crystal Faire?” Crystal watched the specks. The specks punched straight through a few surrounding timelines. She examined the holes that the debris left and found that they too were now expanding. “Oh stars…” she wheezed. Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. “Well?” Crystal turned her attention back toward the world around her. She turned to the others, met Chrysalis’ eyes, and then took a deep breath. “Sorry, I started half-listening toward the end there. I got everything that was said, don’t worry.” “But?” Twilight tremulously asked. “The truth is… I was looking at the timeline,” Crystal said. “I was following along… And it would appear that… a great deal more happened over the course of this conversation. There was another collision.” The other four gave an assortment of dismayed cries in response. “And I can tell you that at least two of the three timelines involved are now collapsing,” Crystal said. “Collapsing!? Oh stars!” Twilight screamed. “There’s more.” “No!” “The debris that’s falling off… it’s shredding nearby timelines. I’m seeing a lot of collapse…” Sunset looked as white as a sheet. Chrysalis stood with her mouth curled into a snarl, but she remained silent all the same. “So…” Sunset began, “you have… timelines colliding with other timelines… timelines collapsing which causes other timelines to collapse… with no end to this?” She shook her head. “What the buck…?” Twilight collapsed. “What… happened to me, it’s… happening all over?” “I don’t believe it,” Chrysalis hissed. “You dare say that there are other places going through what happened to me?” “That’s what I am saying,” Crystal replied. Twilight began to hyperventilate again. “Crystal…” Starlight began, “if all of this is true… and all of this stuff is really happening… What does this all mean?” The other three locked eyes on Crystal. Crystal, who shook like a leaf, steadied herself against the training stairs and stood up. She stood tall but her fallen expression said it all. “I finally understand what’s going on. I understand the problem… The multiverse is bleeding from the inside,” Crystal Faire said. “It’s… dying.”